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A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries . Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and long green, grass-like leaves.
The western coast contain notable and diverse seagrass beds; Cockburn Sound and the Swan River estuary, and the Houtman Abrolhos, Rottnest and other islands. The Wooramel Seagrass Bank 12 species - estimated 4,500 km 2 of seabed - at Shark Bay is the largest reported seagrass meadows in the world (Walker, 1989).
The high diversity of marine organisms that can be found on seagrass habitats promotes them as a tourist attraction and a significant source of income for many coastal economies along the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean. In 2022, scientists reported the discovery of the world’s largest known seagrass ecosystem, near the Bahamas. [91]
Over thousands of years, sediment and shell fragments have accumulated in the seagrasses to form vast expanses of seagrass beds. This has raised the sea floor, making the bay shallower. Seagrasses are the basis of the food chain in Shark Bay, providing home and shelter to various marine species and attracting the dugong population.
A marine coastal ecosystem is a marine ecosystem which occurs where the land meets the ocean. Worldwide there is about 620,000 kilometres (390,000 mi) of coastline. Coastal habitats extend to the margins of the continental shelves, occupying about 7 percent of the ocean surface area.
Seagrass meadows are predominantly found in clear, sandy-bottomed, surf-free, shallow waters, as found off the coast of Belize, in the Amatique Bay, and in Graciosa Bay. [54] They cover some 3,750 hectares (37.5 km 2 ) of the Gulf, reaching a density of some 133 plants per square foot (1,433 plants per m 2 ). [ 54 ]
A bill co-sponsored by Rep. Toby Overdorf seems well intentioned, but it wouldn't adequately protect fragile seagrass beds from destruction. Marine 'mitigation banks' aren't answer for protecting ...
Other areas, such as around the mouth of the Suwannee River, the southern end of Suwannee Sound near Cedar Key, and Wacassassa Bay, which were reported to have beds of seagrass in the past, do not have them today. [36] Extensive seagrass beds around Anclote Key, at the southern end of the Big Bend Coast, disappeared in the early 1960s. [37]